Pulau Tinggi

  Tinggi, Malaysia
Saturday, August 18, 2007

Pulau Tinggi otherwise know as "the island that attacked us" or "the island that was strangely deserted"...

If the title doesn't say it all and you wish to know what the island exactly did to us, read on otherwise there are more photos in the photo album! It has to be said that the photos do not translate the evilness of the island. It was well hidden!

















Once upon the time there was 3 young Europeans (2 boys and 1 girl) that wanted to go on holidays on a Malaysian island on the East coast but didn't want to be with all the crowd and therefore decided to go on a small, less renowed island thinking that it was going to be better. The island was called Pulau Tinggi... It was an old volcano therefore a bit rocky but nevertheless they decided to go. 
 


They were on an adventure weekend and therefore took the overnight bus to get there... 5 hrs... They arrived slightly early at the jetty (4am) and therefore had to sleep for a few hours before they could take a taxi for another hour and then a boat to the island... The adventure really began when they set foot on the island.
On the left, they could see an deserted holiday resort with what used to be a swimming pool and grand reception hall. It looked like everything was left in the hurry as sofas were still there, chairs lying around, even some of the electricity was still on in certain parts of the resort...
On the right was a newer resort but to a smaller standard, little bungalows with bright fresh paint but simpler in features. It was all ok but there was no one else there... 20 empty bungalows!!
The Europeans tourist at first thought it was funny, maybe people would arrive with other boats but actually no, they never came. Only one boat in the whole weekend with 4 Singaporian and 1 Dutch couple... Mmmmm...

Nevermind, they thought; it will still be good! One island for their own in the middle of the Malaysian high touristic season as well as Malaysian holidays, unforseen but brillant!!!

They went on a few exploration trips around the island over weekend but soon realised that the island, the forces of nature, the creatures of the sea and the ruler of the sky were against them...


- They went swimming and realised that the water was not clear as it was supoosed to be so it was a first dispointment


- Because the sea was not clear, there were no fish to be seen


- Because it was a volcanic island the sea bed was very rocky and no good to swim


- Hidden in the cloudy water, there was microscopic tiny little jelly fish that were bitting them... not nice


- They went on another small island because there they got told they will see tropical fish. The island was very pretty and they were glad to be there but it was not as well protected and the waves were a little bit bigger. The girl was foolishly snorkeling around the rocks and was litterally beached upon them! It looked very funny apparently even though she was bruised and cut from the experience!


- They experience beers on the beach on sinking chairs. That was one of the only ok experiences they had



- They also though it would be a good idea to take one of the canoes out to the sea one end of afternoon. The wave was initially ok and they sailed on parallel to the beach. After a few 100 m they decided to sawp places (it was a 2 people canoe) but inadvertently choose a spot near the beach where they was PLENTY of sea urshens! The girl got out of the boat ok but the boy, ohno, he put his hand AND his foot into them... Aie Aie Aie...

- As if this was not enough, they capsized twice. Once near the beach but a second time further away and they had to drag the canoe back to shore. Not easy when the canoe is not fully waterproof, that you are one and hand and one foot down, that you have a rocky beach in front of you and no flip flop, that the light is falling, that you are swimming once again with the tiny, little microscopic jelly fish... BUT they made it! Everyone was ok!
If you are wondering what happened to the 3rd person, he didn't come. He was still on shore worrying about his lost companions... He even ventured out onto the beach to se if he could see them but with no success




- To wrap the weekend up, a little storm hit the island when they were suppose to leave and delayed their departure by 2hrs but they were in no hurry as they once again had to take the overnight bus to KL. They were nevertheless relieved to have managed to escape the island alive on the Sunday after a full weekend on the island






- It was not all over yet though, a few days later, they met again and the first questions they asked each other after how are you was "Are you itching? Are you itching?" Since they had come back, the 3 of them were itching like hell with newly mosquito bite looking marks... The curse of the island was still with them and I am sure that if you ask the Englishman if he still has marks he would say yes!!!

I dont think that me (Maud), Henry or Jerome would recommend going on this island for idyllic holidays!!